The Fabric of Time
by azazemon
Summary: A mutant with the ability to affect time and space joins the X-Men. Now he must deal with his new life away from the ghetto while Xavier attempts to keep Magneto and the brotherhood away from him.


The city of Los Angeles bustled with the many civilians that lived within it. A teenage African-American male, bald, with dark brown eyes, walked down Compton Blvd., his headphones blasting music in his ears as the sun began to take its leave. Suddenly, the music stopped, as did he. He reached in his pocket and found out his mp3 had run out of juice.

"Perfect..." he grunted.

A large gray van suddenly pulled up on the side of him. Three men jumped out and grabbed him.

"Hey! Let go!" He grunted as they threw him into the van.

As they drove off the men struggled with him in the back in an attempt to restrain him. He kicked one between the legs, punched the other in the throat, and headbutted the last guy.

"Hey! Keep that little brat down! We need him as leverage on his brother!" The driver yelled.

The driver suddenly turned the van, and the boy was thrown against the door. Suddenly, the gray door instantly rusted off, and he fell out the van, rolling for a moment before finally stopping. He shook his head as he got up, and looked at the door on the ground as it began to turn to a pile of red dust.

"What the-" he heard the van screech to a halt. He didn't need to turn around to know they were coming back for him, so he ran, zig-zagging through the neighborhoods, taking great care not to run into any gangs or stray dogs.  
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At the Xavier Institute, cerebro informed Professor Charles Xavier of the event that occurred. Xavier called for Storm and Wolverine.

"Yes Charles?" Storm asked as she entered the room.

"Cerebro has detected a new mutant. His name is Shawn Micheals, and he lives in Compton, California. I suggest we assemble everyone and go see him, and I think we should hurry." he added sternly.  
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Shawn finally stopped running when he thought they were off his trail; looking around he saw he was at the park. Panting, he found a metal bench and sat down to rest. The moon was high in the night sky as he massaged his temples. Suddenly, the bench began to quiver, then shake. He quickly jumped off and backed up too fast, tripping over his feet and falling to the ground. Suddenly, the metal poles and water faucets started to bend.

"Is this me?" he asked quietly.

"No, it is me." he heard a voice behind him say.

In shock he quickly got up and turned around, moving back slowly as he looked at who was in front of him. His red helmet concealed his face as he floated in front of Shawn.

"Do not be frightened Shawn, I am not your enemy."

"Kinda hard to believe; enemies like to sneak up on you." he said still backing up slowly.

"I am just like you Shawn, gifted, and strong. There are others like you, with gifts of their own. Come with me and I'll show you." he said extending his hand.

Shawn paused, pondering on his offer. "I'll....have to think about it." he said finally.

"Very well. You may call upon me when you have reached your decision." the man said as he floated off.

"Weird..." Shawn said. He looked at his watch and almost didn't believe the time; it was 8:30. Still on edge from his encounter with the mysterious metal-bender, he started his walk home.

An owl landed on a tree and watched him walk away. When he was out of site the owl landed on the ground, then became a blue-skinned woman with red hair. She folded her arms and smiled,"He's a new one Magneto."

"Yes, he is." Magneto said appearing out of the darkness.

"Do you think Xavier knows?"

"There is no doubt in my mind that Xavier knows, and has already assembled his team to come and retrieve him. Mystique, that boy has an incredible power, it would be a shame for us to lose him to Xavier. Ensure it does not happen." he said before disappearing into the darkness.  
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"This where he lives?" Logan asked as Scott knocked on the door.

"In a minute!" came a voice. A couple of seconds later the door opened as a woman stood there, confused at the group of people in front of her,"Can I help you?"

"Yes. My name is Professor Charles Xavier, and I've come to talk to you about your son."

"What about him?" she now asked suspiciously.

"Mrs. Michaels, I'm sure you're aware of your son's...gifts are you not?"

"How did you know about that?" She now asked, wide-eyed in shock.

"Please, may we come in?" Ororo asked.

"Sure." Mrs. Michaels said, moving aside for them all to enter.

"Now tell me Mrs. Michaels, what is it that your son can do?" Hank asked.

Mrs. Michaels pointed at the plant on the windowsill.

"What, can he control plants?" Jean asked.

"I'm not sure it's that simple. That plant was a seed two days ago. Same thing with this table." she said pointing at the old wooden table,"He touched it yesterday, and it went from a new, shiny wooden table to this old, termite ridden stump. At first we were both confused and frightened about it, especially since people now don't like mutants. I told him not to use his powers unless it was a life threatening moment, that way he won't become another target of these anti-mutant groups that live around here. He's not violent, but I don't want to hear on the news that he turned a man to dust or anything like that."

"Where is he now?" Xavier asked.

"It's 9:15, he should here by 9:30. On saturdays he goes to his Uncle's house to help out with the garden his uncle grows. It's how he wants to make a difference with his powers."

"Well, at least he knows not to misuse them. That half our work right there." Logan said.  
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Shawn turned the corner and headed down the street to his house. Suddenly, there was a sudden breeze that came from behind him. He turned around and saw nothing there. Now pass paranoid, he sped up as he continued to walk down to his house.

"So, you're the one the boss man's after?" he heard someone behind him say. He turned around and saw a boy with white hair looking him up and down.

"You work for the floating metal man?" Shawn asked.

"You could say that. So do these guys."

Blob dropped down behind him and grabbed him.

"Well that was easy." Toad said jumping in front of Quicksilver.

"Let go!" Shawn yelled. In a flash of white light he disappeared from Blob's grasp and appeared a couple of feet behind him.

"What can this guy do again?" Blob asked.

"Mystique said he could age things; she didn't say anything about teleporting." Avalanche said stepping forward.

"You clowns are really coming out of the woodwork today." Shawn said backing up.  
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Xavier gasped.

"What is it Professor?" Scott asked.

"Shawn, he's outside. He's being attacked by the Brotherhood."

"Who?" Mrs. Michaels asked in shock.  
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"If that floating metal man wanted me to join him, he should've picked a better sales pitch than you clowns." Shawn said.

"What? Our sales pitch ROCKS!" Avalanche said stomping the ground. The ground under Shawn shot up, throwing him into the air. He suddenly stopped in mid-air, and was gently placed on the ground.

"What?" he asked looking at his hands.

"Who did that?" Toad asked.

"I did." Jean said as the rest of the X-men entered the fray.

"Whoa, we are seriously outnumbered here." Toad said in fear.

"Just grab the guy and let's get out of here." Avalanche ordered.

"I'm on it." Blob said charging.

Kurt appeared behind Shawn, who turned around and almost had a heart-attack.

"Hang on." Kurt said grabbing his arm and teleporting him behind Xavier.

"What are you!?" Shawn said frantically pulling his arm out of his hand.

"Shawn! Don't worry! They're the good guys." Mrs. Michaels said.

"Forget him! Let's go!" Quicksilver said running off.

"I'm with him." Toad said jumping off.

"This isn't over! Let's go Blob!" Avalanche yelled as they both ran off.  
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"So, you want me to come with you all to live at this....institute for people like me?" Shawn asked.

"That's right Shawn. At the institute, we will figure out what you can do, and how to better control your powers." Xavier said.

"You sound like the floating metal man at the park." Shawn said.

"Ah, I see Magneto has already found you." Xavier said.

"Magneto? Sounds like one of those magnets you can put on a refrigerator that'll never fall off." Mrs. Michaels said.

"Yeah, no offense, but the last guy who offered to teach me about my powers had his band of misfits try to pound me into the pavement."

"We're not like that. If you don't want to come, then we're not going to force you." Hank said.

"I would recommend it though. If Magneto is after you then there is something about you he finds will be of danger to others." Xavier said.

"I think you should go." Mrs. Michaels said.

"I don't know mom." Shawn said, unsure of what to do.

"Think about it. This guy, Magneto is it? Obviously wants to use you for his own little twisted schemes. These people want to find out what it is that you can do and how you can keep him from using you. I think you should accept their offer." Mrs. Michaels said.

Shawn sighed,"Fine, I'll go; but if I find out that you guys are as twisted as the floating magnet and his band of creepy cronies, don't ever come around me again."

Mrs. Michaels shook her head,"Boy, you ain't scaring any of these people. Go get your things ready."

"Yes mother." Shawn said walking towards his room.  
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"YOU IDIOTS!" Mystique voice rang through the park.

"We went to get him but he didn't want to come and those X-geeks showed up and took him." Avalanche said.

"You said you attacked him did you not?" Mystique asked in irritation.

"Umm.....we weren't suppose to?" Blob asked.

"You all have five seconds to get out of my sight before I think of something horrible to do to you." she hissed.

The cleared the area and kicked over a trash can.

"No need for anger Mystique." Magneto's voice rang.

"But now they have the boy." Mystique said.

"Indeed they do, but his trust is still open on both sides. Who he will truly go to still remains a mystery; however, it never hurts to give him a small....push in the right direction. Am I making my point clear?"

A sinister grin spread across Mystique's face,"Perfectly."


End file.
